SENATE BILL REPORT

                           SHB 1583

                     AS OF MARCH 24, 1993

Brief Description:  Clarifying eligibility requirements for state‑funded benefits for part‑time academic employees of community and technical colleges.

SPONSORS: House Committee on Higher Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Jacobsen, Carlson, Quall, Bray, Rayburn, Kessler, J. Kohl, Shin, Wood, Basich, Ogden, Brumsickle, King, Van Luven and L. Johnson)

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

SENATE COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION

Staff:  Scott Huntley (786‑7421)

Hearing Dates: March 30, 1993

BACKGROUND:

Part-time instructors comprise more than 60 percent of the headcount faculty and 40 percent of the full-time equivalent faculty at community and technical colleges.  According to a 1990 survey of part-time faculty conducted by the Washington Federation of Teachers, about 62 percent of the respondents were females, about 66 percent had dependents, and about 60 percent relied on their earnings as instructors for the primary source of household income.  In addition, 62 percent of the respondents had advanced college degrees, over 60 percent had more than five years of teaching experience, and 62 percent identified themselves primarily as teachers rather than as professionals who also teach.  Only 30 percent of the respondents receive medical benefits.

Under law, in order to be eligible for health insurance benefits a faculty member must teach 50 percent of a full-time teaching load, and for retirement benefits must teach 80 percent of a full-time teaching load.  There is no standard, system-wide method for calculating a part-time teaching load for the purpose of determining state benefit packages.  The definition of a full-time teaching load is subject to collective bargaining negotiation on each campus.  The full-time load includes teaching contact hours, and sometimes also includes other factors like office hours and other assigned duties.  The part-time load generally includes only teaching contact hours.

SUMMARY:

For the purpose of determining which part-time faculty at community and technical colleges are eligible for state mandated retirement and insurance benefits, a standard formula will be used.  The hours worked by part-time faculty will be reported as a ratio of the part-time academic work load to the full-time academic work load in a given discipline at the institution where the faculty are employed.  The work loads will be based on the number of in-class hours that must be taught by an instructor in order to fulfill his or her employment obligations.

However, if full-time academic work load is defined in a contract adopted through the collective bargaining process, that definition will prevail over this statutory definition.

Standard definitions are adopted for the following terms:  "full-time academic work load," "in-class teaching hours," "academic employee," and "part-time academic work load."

Appropriation:  none

Revenue:  none

Fiscal Note:  available